* Canadian dollar at C$1.1436 or 87.44 U.S. cents
* Bond prices higher across the maturity curve
By Solarina Ho
TORONTO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar saw little
price action against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as the
currency held steady near its weakest levels in more than five
years following Friday's North American employment data.
The U.S. dollar remained strong after data showed U.S. labor
market strength in both wage growth and job creation, offering
more signs that the U.S. central bank may be edging closer
toward raising interest rates.
In Canada, the jobs data did little to convince market
participants the Bank of Canada will be changing its tune on
monetary policy any time soon, and the loonie remained under
pressure, underperforming nearly all its currency counterparts.
At 9:12 a.m. (1412 GMT), the Canadian dollar was
trading at C$1.1436 to the U.S. dollar, or 87.44 U.S. cents,
little changed from Friday's close of C$1.1432, or 87.47 U.S.
cents. On Friday, the currency had touched C$1.1476, or 87.14
U.S. cents, it's weakest since July 2009.
"Everything we're seeing today is just following on from
Friday's moves. The (U.S.) dollar has generally a better tone
across the board. Not a lot of news to trade off of," said Adam
Cole, global head of FX strategy with RBC Capital Markets in
London.
Cole said it was a U.S. dollar-dominated market on Monday
and the Canadian dollar was being pulled along.
The loonie saw little reaction to economic data that showed
Canadian building permits edged higher in October following
sharp gains in September, and housing starts climbed in
November.
Canadian government bond prices were higher across the
maturity curve, with the two-year adding 1 Canadian
cent to yield 1.041 percent and the benchmark 10-year
up 16 Canadian cents to yield 1.939 percent.
(Reporting by Solarina Ho; Editing by Bernadette Baum)